KANO State High Court has ordered the Commissioner of Police in the state to evict the recently deposed Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero from the Nasarawa Palace he currently occupies.
The presiding judge, Aisha Adamu Aliyu, also ordered the police to take over the Nasarawa palace where Bayero has been staying since he returned to Kano on Saturday, May 25.
The ruling came in response to a suit filed by the Attorney-General of the state, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and the Kano State House of Assembly.
The respondents in the matter are the deposed Emir’s of Karaye, Gaya, Bichi, Rano, Kano, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the State Security Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Army.
The ICIR reported how the Kano Police Command, on Saturday , May 25 said it would enforce an order by the Federal High Court in Kano restricting the state government from reinstating Lamido Sanusi as Emir.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday, May 23, restraining the government from enforcing the newly amended Emirate Council Repeal Law of 2024.
The new law approved Sanusi’s reinstatement as Emir.
Meanwhile, Justice Aliyu granted an order “restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th & 5th defendants, either by themselves, servants, privies, and or any other persons or officers serving under them or acting in connection with any other person from parading themselves as emirs of Kano, Bichi, Gaya, Rano and Karaye pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the applicants.
“That an order is hereby granted to the extent that the Commissioner of Police Kano State should immediately take over the palace of the Emir of Kano situate being and lying at State Road, Kano, and evict the 1st defendant/respondent from the said palace pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice dated 24th May, 2024.
“That an order of this Hon. Court is hereby granted restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th & 5th defendants from parading themselves as emirs of Kano, Bichi, Gaya, Rano and Karaye in the interest of peace in Kano pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“That an order is hereby made that 15th defendants be served through the office of the Commissioner Police, Kano State who is to ensure immediate implementation of the order of the Hon. Court in the interest of justice.”
The ICIR reported that Ado Bayero was dethroned as Emir of Kano along with four other emirs on Thursday, May 23.
The dethronement followed the amendment of the Emirate Council Law of 2019 by lawmakers in the state.
The Emirate Council Law came into existence under the previous administration led by former Kano governor Abdullahi Ganduje, creating five emirates in the state.
After the five emirates were created, Ganduje deposed the former emir, Lamido Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and replaced him with Bayero.
However, the recent abolishment of the five emirates paved the way for the return of the single emirate system in the state, vesting the constitutional powers to appoint emirs in the governor alone.
The current governor immediately reinstated Sanusi as emir and handed him an appointment letter on Friday, May 24, 2024, despite an existing court order restricting him from doing so.
Following his return to the state after his dethronement, Bayero made his way to the palace along Nasarawa in the ancient city of Kano under the protection of security officials believed to be soldiers of the Nigerian Army on Saturday, May 25.
This is despite an order for his arrest by the state Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M